Officials propose changes to parking system to alleviate all-zone congestion

Several changes may be made to the parking system at Texas State to prevent students who live on campus from purchasing perimeter parking permits, which officials say has created difficulties for commuter students.

During a presentation to the Faculty Senate Wednesday, Nancy Nusbaum, interim director of Transportation Services, said many residential students have purchased cheaper $115 purple perimeter passes as opposed to $485 green residential permits. This has left 500 to 600 residential parking spots empty and the commuter lots full. Parking Services administrators have made several recommendations to the permit system at Texas State to help alleviate this issue, among others, Nusbaum told faculty senators.

Residential students parking in all-zone lots intended for purple perimeter passes are not using their cars every day, forcing commuters to circle the lots to find a spot, Nusbaum said. A proposed “storage permit” would allow residential students who do not use their vehicles daily to park at the back of the Mill Street lot. The storage permits would be priced at $115, Nusbaum said.

Students who purchase the storage permits would be able to take the Bobcat Village tram to get to campus from the Mill Street lot. After 5 p.m. each Friday, students with storage permits would be allowed to move their cars to their dorms and park anywhere in any zone for the weekend. In addition, cars with storage permits would have to relocate from the Mill Street lot for home football games.

Additionally, residential students would no longer have the option to purchase perimeter permits. However, green residential permit prices could decrease from $485 to $435 pending approval, Nusbaum said.

“The residential students will no longer be able to buy a perimeter permit to protect our commuter students, but we wanted to give them an option,” Nusbaum said.

Students who live at Bobcat Village are also expected to see changes to their parking permits in the fall, Nusbaum said.

There are 600 total spaces available around the complex, but only 445 Bobcat Village permits were purchased this school year, as many students purchased perimeter passes instead, Nusbaum said. The Bobcat Village permit price is proposed to decrease from $265 to $235, though Bobcat Village residents will not be allowed to purchase a perimeter permit, Nusbaum said.

“The reason is because they essentially have a reserved space,” Nusbaum said.

Susan Weill, journalism and mass communication senator, asked whether it would be better to lower all of the parking permit rates altogether.

If all the parking permits were able to be lowered, almost 17,000 permits would have to be sold for under $100 for parking services to make the same profit they are bringing in currently, Nusbaum said.

Faculty senators will present the proposed recommendations for the parking permit program to the Associate Student Government and the Residence Hall Association. President’s Cabinet administrators will give final approval for the plan.